Kai
by INadeFruitz
Summary: Kai was just going to the bullet train. After being assaulted, an unearthly light has seemingly transported him to a different universe. Losing most of his memories, he's found himself working for a shady organization called Root. Or at least, that's what they're telling him.


**Hey, I've gotten an idea for a story, so I decided to quickly type this up. Tell me what you think.**

* * *

Kai took another heavy blow from the side and let out a grunt. Minutes earlier he had been walking through Tokyo on his way to the bullet train for a long over due vacation. Unfortunately, he hadn't made the wisest decision when he took a shortcut through an alley. Now, he was in the process of being mugged. His assailant knocked him down and started to kick him. He covered his head with his hands, in a feeble attempt to protect it from the blows. Just as he was about to offer the man his money, darkness.

* * *

Kai awoke, disoriented and confused. Looking around in the dark, he realized he was still in the alley. It all came back to him, and he was just happy to be alive. Taking stock of his situation, he took note that pretty much everything but his clothes were gone. His suitcase was torn open, his laptop gone. He reached for his phone, but that too was missing. Luckily, he still had his watch. As he went to check the time, he noticed a faint ethereal light, coming from a point on the wall of the opposite side of the alley. It started to get brighter and more opaque.

It continued to brighten and become whiter, until he couldn't see anything. He could still feel the ground beneath him, but he couldn't smell the dumpster that had been a few feet down the alley. He couldn't hear anything either. Just when he thought the light would blind him, it started to dim. He could smell the garbage again, and hear the customary night sounds. He finally stood, as the light faded away entirely. His eyes continued to adjust to the sudden darkness as he reach for where his suitcase was. He kept reaching, having not touched the familiar surface. He was slightly surprised when his hands touched the bare ground where he was sure it was. He was even more surprised when instead of pavement, his hands touched dirt.

As his eye finished adjusting, he took another quick look around. He raised an eyebrow when he realized he was in an alley with wooden buildings on either side, along with a couple of garbage cans. Checking his watch again, he realized that it was almost sunrise. Evidently, he had been out for a long while.

Looking around, he walked towards a street light outside the alley, tripping along the way. The road he walked onto was pretty wide, but it too was surrounded by only wooden buildings. Slightly confused, he took a cursory glance back into 'his alley'. No one was around, apparently. With no way to contact anyone or any clue as to his location, he walked back into 'his alley' and took a seat. His mind turned to what had happened. He wasn't sure he should trust his memory, and thought it most likely that the goon who had mugged him had decided to carry him off to wherever 'here' was. He rationalized the white light away, believing it to be a trick of his eyes, probably the after effects of being hit on the head. After a couple of minutes, Kai slipped into a restless sleep.

* * *

Kai awoke with a start, hitting his head on the wall he was leaning against. He immediately covered his eyes with his hand, in an attempt to block out the bright morning sun. As his eyes continued to adjust, he noticed the sounds you would hear on a bustling street. He stood and walked over to the street again, raising an eyebrow along the way. For some reason, the large mass of people out on the street seemed to be considerably taller than himself. Taking a moment to observe himself, he finally noticed that everything about him was small. In fact, he would go as far to say that he was the size of a small child.

Slightly confused, Kai decided to ignore that fact for a moment. Looking at the masses on the street again, it seemed to him that these people were stuck in the past. People pushing and pulling wooden carts, stalls along the side of the street, and the more traditional stylized clothing they all wore lent credibility to his theory. As he was thinking all of this, his eyes drifted over a pair of teenagers wearing the same form of clothing. The same sandals that everyone seemed to wear, slightly baggy sweat pants with bandages securing the bottom to their ankles, a dark blue pullover sweater with red swirls on the upper arm, a strange green multiple pocketed vest, and to top it off, a headband with a leaf on it.

Kai looked up and down the street, wondering where the Naruto convention was. He didn't even know there were Naruto conventions. Seeing that he still didn't know his location, or why he was so small, Kai decided to bite the bullet and ask somebody a couple of questions.

As he went to approach a middle-aged man, he suddenly felt very small. But Kai was determined and continued walking. Once he was in hearing range, which was considerably close thanks to all the noise, Kai cleared his throat.

"Sir, can you tell me where I am?"

The man turned to look at the small boy, raising an eyebrow along the way. He had dark brown eyes, that seemed to immediately begin dissecting Kai as soon as he looked at him. After a few tense moments, the eyebrow went down and the eyes ceased their dissecting.

"You're on main street, kid."

Thinking the conversation was over, he turned to continue walking. Kai ran to stand next to him, in order to keep him from walking away. He shot out another question.

"Can you tell me where I am on a...larger scale?"

The eyebrow shot up again, but the man complied.

"You're in Konoha, kid."

Of course, Kai thought he was joking, and replied accordingly. He let out an awkward sounding chuckle and said, " No, but seriously, where am I?"

The man let out a huff and walked away. Kai wondered what his problem was. Approaching someone else, he asked the same question. And he received the same answer. Kai asked a series of other people, and every single one told him the same thing. He was starting to think he was in a Naruto junkie insane asylum. When he asked another person, the women pointed upwards farther down the road. He didn't know how he hadn't seen it until now. On the mountain, there were four faces. Four very recognizable faces.

Kai's left eye twitched. He took a moment to look around again, seeing everything in a different light. Then, he started stumbling in the direction of the mountain. He wasn't a big computer user, but he was fairly certain that this was all animated. Clinging to a desperate hope, Kai latched on to the thought that if he reached the mountain, it would all fall apart. He would wake up in a game test facility, and everything would be all right.

As he walked ever closer to the looming giant, his mind kept throwing more explanations at him.

_"You were right before, it is a convention, and everything is cardboard."_

_"You're delusional, it's not real. Snap out of it."_

_"You're at home in bed. You haven't even woken up for your trip yet."_

All these and more shot through his head. Yet, even as he thought them, he still believed that touching the mountain would give him the answer.

He was close now. He had to look straight up to see the faces. Kai went around the building in his way, and continued on to the mountain. He was mere feet from it now. Time seemed to slow, and as he took the last few paces, his mind asked him a pressing question.

"What if it's real?"

He was reaching out his hand to feel it's surface when he thought that, and his hand stopped dead. After a few tense moments, he worked up his courage, and reached. He fully expected everything around him to suddenly collapse, or the surface to have the familiar texture of cardboard. But it didn't. It was rock, through and through.

His mind scrambled once more, thinking that, perhaps just this one section is real, and the rest isn't. He began to frantically rub both his hands against it, eventually using his entire body. After half a minute of this, he threw himself away from it.

Kai now looked menacingly at the natural structure, as if it had burned him. He slowly walked backwards away from it, his eyes never leaving it. As he reached a couple dozen yards away from the mountain, he turned and started to walk again. And then he ran.


End file.
